I'm in Yellow Maple Valley, and I have one equipment slot!

Chapter 353, Section 351: The righteous and demonic paths are alarmed! A chance encounter occurs at Kunwu Palace!

"Eh-!!!"

When the lion-beast saw that Zhou Yuan was not only not intimidated by its power, but was instead looking at it with the same smug look it had on its prey, it was instantly enraged!

It let out an even sharper and more piercing roar, its four huge wings flapped violently, stirring up a gust of wind, and its massive body, like a small mountain, swooped down towards Zhou Yuan with a ferocious aura that seemed to tear everything apart!

Those sharp claws gleamed with a cold, icy light, as if they could easily pierce through steel!

Zhou Yuan remained completely calm. A flash of azure light and silver lightning simultaneously appeared on the Wind and Thunder Wings behind him!

"Crack!"

A crisp, thunderous sound rang out, and his figure left a faint afterimage in place before instantly shifting hundreds of feet away, easily dodging the lion-beast's thunderous pounce!

Immediately afterwards, Zhou Yuan no longer held back, pointing his fingers like a sword towards the direction of the lion-beast!

"Clang clang clang clang—!!!"

Seventy-two gleaming golden bamboo bee cloud swords emerged from behind him like a peacock spreading its tail, intertwining in the air and instantly transforming into thousands of incredibly condensed, tangible sword lights, forming a massive golden sword net that swept down upon the lion-beast!

Although the lion-beast had a strong body, sharp claws, and a body like steel, making it difficult for ordinary magic weapons to harm it, Zhou Yuan's Green Bamboo Bee Cloud Sword was a top-grade flying sword infused with Geng essence, and its power was extraordinary.

A series of sharp, clanging sounds, like a storm, rang out, accompanied by the lion-beast's angry and painful roar!

The golden sword net landed on it, leaving sword marks of varying depths on its hard feathers and scales!

Several drops of bright red blood even dripped from the air!

The lion-beast was both shocked and furious! It never expected that this human cultivator, who didn't seem particularly strong, would be so powerful!

It could sense that this human was even stronger than the leader of the group of humans who had injured it with that strange black knife a few days ago.

If the fight continues, it may really perish here!

Although this lion-beast was fierce, it had developed intelligence and was not a foolish creature that only knew how to act recklessly. It realized that things were going badly and immediately had the idea of ​​retreating.

It suddenly opened its mouth wide and spewed out a cloud of misty blue wind, temporarily forcing back Zhou Yuan's sword light. Then, it flapped its four wings wildly, transforming into a streak of blue light, and fled in panic towards a certain direction deep in Kunwu Mountain without looking back!

Zhou Yuan watched the lion-beast's retreating figure without giving chase. Instead, a smile appeared on his lips as he muttered to himself, "Run, run—sooner or later, you'll obediently return to my side."

As a time traveler, he naturally knew many secrets of Kunwu Mountain.

When the three elders of Kunwu sealed Kunwu Mountain, in order to prevent future generations from accidentally entering or the seal from being broken by those with ill intentions, they specially brought in four extremely powerful creatures to serve as guardians of Kunwu Mountain.

These four creatures are: the level 10 demon beast Lion-Bird Beast, the level 10 demon beast Xuanyan Turtle, the Silver-Winged Yaksha, and the most mysterious and unpredictable Mu Kui.

Normally, these four creatures are imprisoned by formations in dangerous places throughout the Great Jin Dynasty, unable to escape.

Only when the seal of Kunwu Mountain is disturbed will the one-way teleportation arrays in the formations that imprison them be activated, teleporting them into the interior of Kunwu Mountain to carry out the mission of expelling or annihilating the invaders.

The original intention of the Three Elders of Kunwu was to use the power of the Four Spirits to protect the peace of Kunwu Mountain.

The life tablets of these four creatures were placed by the three elders of Kunwu in the core hall of Kunwu Mountain—Kunwu Hall!

As long as Zhou Yuan can obtain those four Soul Tablets, he will be able to control the life and death of these four powerful beings!

At that time, they will have no choice but to submit! Subduing a level 10 demon beast as a guardian spirit beast is far more valuable than simply killing it for materials!

He stopped thinking about the lion beast and his gaze swept over the tall jade tablets in the white jade square.

The stone steps leading to "Jinshi Pavilion", "Xiangyun Hall", "Qiling Academy", "Demon Suppression Tower" and other destinations each have their own allure.

But Zhou Yuan's goal was clear—he walked directly toward the jade tablet with the three ancient characters "Kunwu Palace" engraved on it, and then, with a swift movement, he quickly ascended the stone steps leading to Kunwu Palace.

Meanwhile, at the entrance to the sealed Kunwu Mountain, in the space a thousand feet underground beneath the nameless lake, even more people had gathered.

These people were cultivators from various places who rushed to the scene after hearing the news.

Among them were more than a dozen Nascent Soul cultivators! Together with hundreds of Core Formation cultivators, they filled the originally spacious underground space to the point of being completely packed.

Due to the self-destruction of the Ye family's illusion array, the seal gap, which originally had only a single crack, was blasted wider.

However, the gap was still filled with extremely violent spatial energy and spiritual turbulence, and there were even some small, visible black spatial cracks, which appeared and disappeared in the void like venomous snakes, exuding a terrifying aura of destruction.

To force our way through this area, it will take at least four or five days, until the violent energy subsides somewhat.

Among the crowd, two women stood out. One appeared to be around forty years old, still charming and dignified, with a cultivation level at the mid-Nascent Soul stage.

The other person was a young woman who looked to be only in her early twenties, with a beautiful face and a cool temperament, and her cultivation level was at the early stage of the Nascent Soul stage.

Both of them were dressed in the same style of white palace dress, with exquisite cloud patterns embroidered on the hem of their skirts. They were from the famous sect in the Southern Frontier—the Immortal Transformation Sect!

The Immortal Transformation Sect is even more famous in the Southern Frontier than the Poison Saint Sect. This is because the sect's greatest strength lies in its extremely bizarre and ruthless long-range curse techniques!

In the cultivation world, there are often reports of cultivators who have offended disciples of the Immortal Transformation Sect, who then mysteriously die in some completely unrelated place.

This made cultivators from other sects extremely wary of this sect's cultivators, and they dared not provoke them easily.

In particular, the older "Madam Wei" had a terrifying legend of cursing and killing three cultivators of the same level from different places in a single day, making her infamous in the Southern Frontier!

However, the person with the highest cultivation level at this moment was not Madam Mu from the Immortal Transformation Sect, but a person dressed in a blue Bagua Daoist robe.

The white-haired, youthful-looking old Taoist priest was none other than Xuan Qingzi of the Taiyi Sect!

He had just arrived and his cultivation had reached the late stage of the Nascent Soul realm, giving him a clear advantage over everyone else present.

At this moment, Xuan Qingzi stood in front of the raging energy rift, his expression solemn, clearly stating that he would prevent others from entering the rift.

"Daoist Xuanqingzi, isn't your Taiyi Sect being far too domineering? This treasure land is a shared heritage of the Great Jin cultivation world; everyone who sees it has a share! Why are you blocking us from entering?"

Madam Mu spoke coldly, her tone carrying a hint of dissatisfaction and sarcasm.

Xuan Qingzi shook his head and sighed, "Madam Mu, it's not that I'm intentionally trying to stop you. It's just that this place is extraordinary!"

""

"Beneath the seal of Kunwu Mountain lies an ancient demon! To rashly trespass could not only trigger the ancient restrictions and result in certain death, but also break the seal, releasing the suppressed demon. In that case, the entire Great Jin Dynasty would face annihilation! This old Daoist is here on the orders of the Supreme Elder of my Taiyi Sect, to prevent anyone from acting recklessly here, lest a great disaster be caused!"

Xuan Qingzi transmitted his last sentence telepathically, so that the other cultivators could not hear it.

"Hmph! Whether it's dangerous or not, I know what I'm doing! No need for Daoist Xuanqingzi to worry about it!"

Madam Mu, however, was completely unmoved. She exchanged a glance with the young woman beside her, and then the two of them attacked simultaneously!

The young woman raised her jade-like hand, and a silvery, pointed, shuttle-shaped treasure, seemingly formed from moonlight, was tossed into the air.

Almost at the same time, Madam Mu also flicked her sleeve, and a shuttle-shaped treasure, identical to the one in the picture but shimmering with golden luster, also flew out!

Two beams of light, one silver and one gold, collided in mid-air. Instead of exploding and flying away, they merged into one, just like yin and yang merging, transforming into a huge flying shuttle about ten feet in size, its entire body flowing with golden and silver spiritual light, and its awe-inspiring momentum!

"The Sun and Moon Shuttle, one of the Three Spirit Shuttles!"

Upon seeing this object, Xuan Qingzi's pupils contracted slightly, and a look of surprise appeared on his face.

He never expected that the Immortal Transformation Sect would even bring such a legendary treasure!

Without further hesitation, Madam Mu and the young woman disappeared into the enormous Sun and Moon Shuttle.

Immediately afterwards, the giant golden and silver shuttle emitted a deep hum, transformed into a streak of light, and directly headed towards the raging energy...

He charged straight into the gap riddled with spatial rifts!

The violent energy and spatial rifts were actually pushed aside by the golden and silver spiritual light flowing on the surface of the Sun and Moon Shuttle!

Seeing that someone had successfully entered, the other cultivators who were still observing or were not confident in forcibly passing through the gap immediately became restless!

Some cultivators who possessed rare treasures or special abilities also began to take action, each using their own methods to try to pass through the energy rift.

Seeing this, Xuan Qingzi knew that he could not stop these people whose minds were blinded by greed.

He sighed helplessly and stopped trying to stop them.

Life and death are determined by fate. Since these people have chosen to die, let them go!

The reason he stayed here instead of going in immediately was because he was waiting for someone—the Seven Wonders True Man of the Heavenly Demon Sect!

He had already made an appointment with the Seven Wonders Immortal to meet here and then enter Kunwu Mountain together.

With these two late-stage Nascent Soul cultivators joining forces, their chances of dealing with the crisis and seizing the treasures will naturally be much greater.

At that moment, five more people arrived at the white jade square.

It was a group from the Poison Saint Sect led by Hua Tianqi.

The five of them happened to be quite familiar with the arrangement of the Purple Star Seven Star Formation. Instead of forcibly breaking the formation, they found a shortcut, bypassed the formation, and successfully arrived at the White Jade Square.

"Senior Brother Hua, which way should we go?" An elder of the Poison Saint Sect looked at the dozen or so forks in the road, somewhat unsure of what to do, and asked Hua Tianqi.

Hua Tianqi's gaze swept over the jade tablets, and after a moment's contemplation, he finally fixed his eyes on the one engraved with the words "Demon Suppression Tower." A glint of light flashed in his eyes: "Let's go to the Demon Suppression Tower! Since that place is where demons are guarded, it must be one of the most heavily defended and core areas of the entire Kunwu Mountain! The more prestigious the place, the greater the possibility of it containing treasures! Let's go there!"

Having made their decision, the five of them no longer hesitated and hurriedly went up the stone steps leading to the Demon Suppression Tower.

Meanwhile, Zhou Yuan hurried along the stone steps leading to the Kunwu Palace. These steps were extremely long, seemingly without end.

He flew for the time it takes for an incense stick to burn before the road ahead was blocked by a vast, empty stone forest.

Despite being called a stone forest, it is actually just a dense cluster of stone pillars of similar thickness and several meters high, standing on the ground.

The surfaces of these stone pillars are intricately carved with mysterious runes and incantations, and they are faintly connected by spiritual light, clearly forming an extremely powerful restrictive array.

Zhou Yuan, skilled and daring, did not hesitate for long and flew directly into the stone forest.

The moment he entered the stone forest, a sudden change occurred! Two muffled roars rang out, and two enormous, lifelike lions, cast entirely from some kind of bronze, burst forth from the stone forest, attacking Zhou Yuan from the left and right!

The aura of these two bronze lions had actually reached the Nascent Soul stage!

Zhou Yuan raised an eyebrow slightly, but did not panic.

He knew that these were merely puppets guarding the stone forest.

These two bronze lions are quite powerful and seem to possess some kind of self-repairing ability. Even if they are broken, they can reassemble themselves, making them very troublesome.

But Zhou Yuan had absolutely no interest in a prolonged battle with them!

He directly summoned the Void Heaven Cauldron! The Void Heaven Cauldron swelled in the wind, growing to several zhang in size, its body radiating a hazy blue light.

Zhou Yuan activated the Void Heaven Cauldron and charged directly at the two bronze lions with an incomparably brute force!

"Clang! Clang!"

Two deafening crashes! The two majestic bronze lions were sent flying by the Void Heaven Cauldron, crashing heavily into several stone pillars and breaking several of them!

Taking advantage of this gap, Zhou Yuan's figure flickered, and like a ghost, he quickly passed through the stone forest and arrived at its end.

At the end, there was a white light curtain that rippled like water.

Without hesitation, Zhou Yuan pointed his fingers like a sword and unleashed a condensed golden sword aura that easily tore a hole in the light barrier before slipping inside.

Passing through the light curtain, the scene before him suddenly opened up. He arrived before a more magnificent and solemn hall.

Above the main hall's plaque are three simple and ancient characters: Kunwu Hall!

At this moment, two cultivators were standing on the platform in front of Kunwu Hall.

One of them, whom Zhou Yuan recognized, was Ye Tianhua, the second elder of the Ye family, whom he had met several times before!

The other person was an unfamiliar elder of the Ye family, whose cultivation level was at the early stage of the Nascent Soul stage.

"Zhou—Fellow Daoist Zhou?!"

When Ye Tianhua saw Zhou Yuan suddenly appear from the light screen, his face showed an expression of extreme shock and disbelief!

He never expected that Zhou Yuan would be able to break through the numerous obstacles set up by the Ye family on the road and arrive at the Kunwu Palace so quickly!

This is bad!

Ye Tianhua inwardly groaned.

He knew Zhou Yuan's combat strength very well!

If Zhou Yuan were to interfere with the treasures in the Kunwu Palace, the difficulty for the Ye family to successfully obtain them would undoubtedly increase significantly!